Menu
By Bill Short
The Millington Board of Mayor and Aldermen unanimously passed an ordinance on final reading this week that amends the Municipal Code for zoning and land-use control. Board members took the action Monday night during their regular monthly meeting on a motion offered by Alderman Al Bell and seconded by Alderman Frankie Dakin. The ordinance was unanimously passed on first reading at the board’s Oct. 9 meeting. It amends Section 14-1203 of the Code by deleting a requirement that hotels, motels and tourist courts provide 1.5 parking spaces per unit, plus one space for each 400 square feet of meeting area or restaurant space. The amendment requires one parking space for each room, plus one space for each 200 square feet of meeting rooms or restaurant “open to the general public.”
The ordinance also amends Section 14-2407 of the Code by adding an exemption for signs under canopies if the following conditions are met:
(1) The signs will only be allowed on buildings with three or more businesses and contain only the name of the business. (2) They must be located no less than 8 feet above the sidewalk and be placed perpendicular to the building frontage.
(3) They cannot exceed 5 square feet in area and must be the same color as the building sign.
Charles Goforth, planning consultant for the city, has told the board that, as he “works through various cases,” he occasionally encounters something that “seems to be an error.” And he said that was the case in “both of these.” While Millington’s parking requirement was 1.5 spaces per room, Goforth said Atoka, Bartlett and Munford only require one space. “We were actually requiring more parking than everybody else did,” he noted. “So, to try to get it even with the others, we made a change there.” Goforth also recalled that, when the Shoppes of Millington Farms opened, the businesses wanted to install small signs that would “hang underneath” the canopy and direct customers to the stores. Because the Code previously did not have a “provision for that,” he said the amendment revises the existing ordinance.
“This will allow them to have that type of sign,” he noted. “So, when you’re walking down the complex, you’ll be able to see what the store is.”
